The foremost pilgrim site in Scandinavia in the Middle Ages was the cathedral in Nidaros (modern Trondheim), Norway, which was built over the grave of King Olaf Haraldsson, patron saint of Norway, and contained his shrine. Nidaros became known as a pilgrim site immediately after the fall of the king at Stiklestad in 1030 and was visited by pilgrims from far and near throughout the Middle Ages. During the restoration of the church in the first decades of the thirteenth century, the octagon was built, which now forms the choir of the church. Although Nidaros was the most important, it was…

The Norwegian town of Nidaros (modern Trondheim) was the principal pilgrim site in Scandinavia in the Middle Ages. The site owes its fame to Olaf Haraldsson (995-1030), son of Harald Grenski, a local king in southeast Norway. After a career of war and piracy in the Baltic and Normandy, where he was baptized, Olaf returned home to claim Norway as his patrimony. He succeeded in completing the conversion of Norway to Christianity, but his harsh rule caused a rebellion against him by powerful local …